August is for Pilsner Lovers!

August is Virginia Craft Beer Month!

With over 300 craft breweries in the state, Virginia takes its craft beer seriously … and has a lot of fun doing it. From big breweries who flood the supermarket aisles in and out of state to hole-in-the wall / place-in-our hearts nano-breweries, there’s bound to be something for any craft beer lover’s taste.

This week, we continue our month-long celebration of Virginia Craft Beer Month by focusing on America’s classic beer style … the Pilsner!

When English settlers came to this continent, they brought their religion, their racism, their affinity for imperial acquisition and dominance, their small pox, their work ethic, their hunger for a better life on their terms, and their beer. Specifically, they brought their tradition of making ales. However, for various reasons, over the decades, hard liquor (especially rum and whiskey) took center stage in America’s alcohol palate.

That situation was on the menu until the European wars of the late 18th and early 19th century let up, and German immigrants began flooding into America. Starting with the 1830s, German immigration grew until WWI. (Our own president’s paternal grandfather Friedrich came over from Bavaria in 1885 — a 16 year old barber, the son of vineyard workers, escaping Bavarian mandatory military service. He eventually settled in New York and started a real estate business.) These German immigrants brought the new tradition of making Lagers (including Pilsners) with them. Looking for alternatives to barley, they experimented with adding corn and rice to their malt bill. Though more expensive than barley, they liked how rice produced a lighter, cleaner lager.

Unlike northeastern brewers, who had large urban populations like Philadelphia and New York City to work off of, midwestern brewers like Joseph Schlitz, Frederick Miller, and Frederick Pabst in Milwaukee and Adolphus Busch in St. Louis had to invest in out-of-state distribution for their businesses to thrive. Then came Prohibition, which killed off most of America’s small breweries. When, it was lifted, it was these large, midwestern German American breweries with already established distribution chains who were most poised to start up again and dominate the market. Thus, American beer in the 20th century became all about clean, clear, light lagers.

Today, Virginia has no signature beer style (though we had hopes for the Virginia Golden Ale and for Virginia Porters). Instead, we tend to follow national beer trends, and we are still feeling (in our opinion) the result both of a backlash against the variety of the early craft beer revolution and the influence of “traditional” beer drinkers lured to craft beer over the last decade, who just want something closer to “a regular beer.” Thus, a few years ago, Lagers blossomed in popularity, and we are still in their bloom today.

This week, we taste some Virginia craft versions of the most non-craft of styles, the Pilsner. Please join us this Thursday anytime between 5:00 and 6:30 PM.